Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-02-03
A Remarkable Discovery.

W. NJ. Lee, the well-known fruit
grower of Tacoma, gives the particulars
Of wonderful discovery Of bones of ex-
tinct animals in Washington Territory.
which will attract the attention of the
students of natural history and archRo-
logy all over the world. In letter to
the Tacoma CIV. T.) Ledger from Spo-
kane fails, recently received. he says:
The face of the whole territory shows
unmistakable evidence of great volcanic
upheavals. On my trip through Spo-
kane county stopped at Latah, and in
conversation with Mr.. Coplen of that
place, regarding the volcanic forma-
ton of that section, he informed me
that he had examined some large bones
of great antiquity. Accompanied by
Mr.. Coplen went to the spring where
the relics were dug out. 1t is located
on low strip of springy prairie. The
excavation around the spring is twelve
or fifteen feet deep, and thirty or forty
feet across. The bones were covered by
several distinct layers.
The first layer was ancient peat, then
gravel. then volcanic ashes, then a
layer of coarse peat From this spring
were taken no less than nine mann
moths, or elephants, of different sizes,
the remains of a cave bear, and hyenas,
extinct birds, and sea turtle. MIR.
Coplen kindly presented me with some
| specimens of these relics. The dimen-
sions of some of the bones of the larger
mammoths were wonderful to look at.
The horns were sort of tusk, and pro-
truded from the head just below the
eyes, extending downward below the
! jaws, then upward over the head. BY
dropping the head in the act of feeding
the circle of the horns that extended
below the jaws partially rested on the
ground, giving support to the head,
which is estimated to have weighed a
ton.
The horns were worn away several
inches at the bottom of the turn or half
circle, indicating constant use by rub
bing on the ground or rocks One of
these horns was ten feet and one inch
long and twenty-four inches in circum-
ference. 1t weighed 145 pounds. One
of the tusks measured twelve feet and
nine inches in length and twcnty-seven
inches round. 1t weighed 295 pounds.
The jaw weighed sixy-three pounds.
The nolar teeth weighed eighteen
pounds each. Some of the ribs were
eight feet long The pelvic arch was
six feet across, and an ordinary man
could walk erect through this opening.
This huge and antique monster was
eighteen feet and six inches high, and
was estimated to weigh twenty tons.
Just imagine far back in the misty
bygones Of antiquity, probably before
the appearance of man upon the earth,
that Washington Territory was the
home of these monstrous animals, that
roamed over the great prairies, traversed
the Columbia river, and made the
genial cfime of Puget sound their haunts
in winter. 1t matters not what the
theories may be in regard to these inn
bedded bones of such huge proportions;
why SO many of them were piled to-
gether in these springy places; what
period or age the animals lived; at what
time the great change took place
which made them disappear from the
continent; whether they first made their
appearance in this part of America and
whether or not it was then tropical
climate. r5r ....,.. ..1 sri